Congress moves poll panel, demands cancellation of votes of two party MLAs

New Delhi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Congress on Tuesday moved the Election Commission demanding cancellation of votes of its two MLAs, who cross-voted in the Gujarat Rajya Sabha elections and allegedly showed the ballots to BJP leaders against the rules.

Talking to reporters after petitioning the Election Commission, Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala said the two MLAs had shown their votes after marking them to BJP president Amit Shah, union Minister Smriti Irani and former Congress MLA who switched to BJP Balwantsinh Rajput – all candidates in the election – against the conduct of election rules.

“The votes cannot be accepted at any cost. They should be rejected. The entire event has been recorded in video. We have requested the Election Commission to reject the votes,” Surjewala said.

He cited the example of a Rajya Sabha election in which he claimed that the vote of the Congress Legislature Party leader was cancelled on similar grounds.

Party leader R.P.N. Singh, who was also part of the Congress delegation, said the Election Commission had told them that they will seek a report from the returning officer.

“We have demanded that the election should be stopped. The Election Commission should ask for the video and take a decision after examining it,” he said.

“We have faith that the Election Commission will act to save democracy,” he added.